Seagull Aggression Study Scrapped - Now We'll Never Know Why The Birds Are So Angry

After the Budget every year, the media likes to figure out who are the winners and the losers. Who gets a better deal after tinkering with the public finances, and who gets worse? It turns out that after this year's emergency budget it isn't just the poor and the young who lost out - but seagulls too.

According to The Guardian hidden in the budget was the cutting of £250,000 earmarked for a study into why seagulls are so poorly behaved. Seriously.

The cash was only secured by former Liberal Democrat MP Don Foster in the final coalition Budget back in March - but clearly it was only the Liberal Democrats who were reigning in the Tory desire to have seagulls wreak havoc on our coastlines, as now George Osborne can do what he likes, the seagulls have been unleashed. It seems that the Chancellor doesn't want to beat Angry Birds.

Apparently the gulls are at their worst in Cornwall where they have been reportedly attacking pensioners, children, and pets - and are even alleged to have killed two dogs in the past three months. But if you ask the Treasury apparently the flying menace are "low priority".

Don Foster, who apparently held a "seagull summit" in 2012 in Parliament to discuss the issue, apparently outlined his problem with them by saying that: "They have a four-and-a-half-foot wingspan and that can be very intimidating," before getting around accusations of anti-seagull bigotry by saying that "I don’t have a problem with seagulls in the right place."

The Graun also quotes David Cameron wading in on the issue - he apparently signalled to BBC Radio Cornwall that he thought seagulls were a problem, saying that

"I think a big conversation needs to happen about this and frankly the people we need to listen to are people who really understand this issue in Cornwall, and the potential effects it is having."

Could this be the sign of a schism between Number 10 and Number 11 Downing Street? Does Cameron think that George Osborne is being too "passively tolerant" of seagull violence? [The Guardian]